Pokémon Special: Global Link continued

It's been a while since I wrote an article about various aspects of the Pokémon Global Link and the Dream World. Now that I have played some more, I've discovered a few interesting things I'd like to share as I wasn't that thorough on some parts last time. The Pokémon Global Link has so many things to offer that I'll probably forget some things again but I'll try my best! Also, I might update my previous post about it with more and cleaner pictures. :)

Sculpting a Scolipede

Lately I've been in a serious mood to pour some of my creative spasms into something different than paper, this time, sculpture clay was the victim. I've made a few things out of clay before, such as a sweet little piglet for someone's birthday as can be seen below.

But a few days ago, I was up to a bigger challenge: creating one of my favorite Pokémon out of clay. The thing is, I have a lot of Pokémon I like, but not every Pokémon is as easy to translate to a sculpture. *sniffles as she really wants to make a vaporeon* After a lot of searching and thinking of how to make it, I've decided to go with Scolipede.

So what's a Scolipede?

(From Bulbapedia) Scolipede is a centipede-like Pokémon, with bright magenta coloration interspersed with purple rings spaced evenly along its segmented upper body. Its horns, extending from its head in a similar way to antennae, are long and slightly twisted. Purple banding decorates its horns, as well as its similarly-shaped dual tails. It has four pairs of purple-tipped forelegs, capable of injecting poison. Its legs further down its body are longer, with curved black patterns and black tipping on the extremities of the limb. Scolipede are very aggressive, and will chase down its enemies with its horns. It gives no mercy to its opponent until it strikes the final blow.

That's cute... right?

After setting everything up I took a good chunk of clay and started sculpting the main body, which was more or less a big sausage with a big round end and a small narrow end. I've made lots of balls in different sizes to flatten and stretch them for the plates of the body. After that I just needed to press them on. The horns and tails were also made seperately and pressed onto the main body, but without support so they are a bit fragile. The hardest part was without a doubt the legs. They are just so narrow at the bottom... I just couldn't pull it off! Right now they are a lot bigger. I even reinforced them with cardboard, but to no avail. In any case, my sculpture was finished!

Too bad I'm not as patient as some to let the sculpture airdry, so I took our hair dryer and gave the clay a full load of hot air. (at a safe distance of course, I didn't want it to break!) 7 minutes later the Scolipede was ready for some paint.


Luckily I still had lots of paint left from the piglet, so mixing colors to get the right ones for scolipede was fairly easy. I started with magenta for its upper body and didn't bother too much to paint it with precision. After all, a darker color was needed for its belly and accents, so it would mask the red easily.

After painting the belly and accents dark grey I applied a generous amount of yellow on the bottom half of its eye. Sadly at this point I wasn't really having a steadfast hand anymore so the painting overlapped at some points, but I couldn't be bothered, it was so close to being finished! With some mixture of magenta, cerulean blue and a bit of white to tone down the color I've added the remaining markings and poison points ( I was too lazy to sculpt those, afraid they might break too easily anyway) and added the pupils with the tip of my brush. Et voila! My scolipede was done.

 

 

 

Oh hai!

Being all proud of myself I took it downstairs to take some pictures with it featuring my mother's fancy plant in the background. (The color just matches you know?) ^^

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Until next time!

Anime opening/ending top 100 (part III)

Wow, it has been a little while since I last posted something. I suppose preparing for my finals and finishing tasks for school has taken more time than I'd like to admit... For now I'll probably post a bit less frequently until my finals are over.

What doesn't change is that it is that time of the month again, today number 80 until number 71 of the anime opening/ending top 100 make their appearance on this blog. It's a bit of a shame that since the making of this list I've watched and completed other anime with likeable openings and endings, so if I were to make the list again some things would surely rank lower or higher. ^^;;

But, as rules are rules I won't change the list until it's fully published! To make up for it I'll probably make a spin-off post when the list is finally completely online.
Anyways, we're almost nearing the point where it became hard to choose and find something negative to put it lower on the list, exciting!

Anime opening/ending top 100 (part II)

The end of the month is near once more, so it's time for another batch of anime openings and endings! If there is a link that doesn't work, don't hesitate to let me know and I'll try to find a replacement as soon as possible.

So on to the list... I never thought it would be this hard to actually number my favorite openings and endings, there are some that could've possibly scored higher or some that could've scored lower, but I think most of them are justified. It's a mix of the sentiments I have for the anime in question, the catchyness of the song (Major point! Sometimes songs can be irresistable) and  how the opening or ending matches the anime's general feel plus the originality of the video.

Pokémon Global Link and the Dream World

A few days ago I got an e-mail in my inbox with a notice that the Pokémon Global Link had been launched. Eager to check it out I made myself an account and after surfing the site for a few hours I can say I was literally godsmacked!

Pokémon Global Link is an online (and not to mention free!) service for Pokémon fans around the world. By connecting your copy of Pokémon Black or Pokémon White to the Pokémon Global Link you can tuck in one of the Pokémon in your game and make it appear in the Pokémon Dream World online, where it can befriend Pokémon, grow Berries, collect items... and the most beautiful part, bring them back to your game! You can also check out the Global Battle Union where your online battle stats are kept and play mini-games for Trainer Tokens, which you can you use to buy items for your avatar.

To enter the Dream World the only thing you need is a Pokémon Trainer Club account, a copy of Pokémon Black or Pokémon White and a wireless internet connection. When you've secured those things you can login to the Pokémon Global Link and the fun can start!

Setting up your Global Link connection
 Beware for an image heavy blogpost!

I still love the 90's

Once every year there is a party in Belgium that takes my breath away and makes me feel like I'm a little child again running around the kitchentable screaming "I like to move it, move it!". If you're wondering what I am talking about... I'm talking about this:

 

I love the 90's is a party concept with (as you can guess) 90's music. Much of the music that blows through the speakers can be described as dance, retro house and occasionaly a bit of alternative music and rock. It is held every year around the same time, namely the second week of april. 

I love the 90's was a big hit in Belgium and over the years many other organisations have held similar parties hoping to share its success. But, as perhaps many others will agree, I love the 90's still feels authentic and is the best party of them all ;)

Keep the spirit alive!

With the title Keep the spirit alive! (a sentence of the song "The Spirit" from Fiocco, a belgian dance formation from the 90's) the line-up promised to especially make your heart pound this year. As a result the line-up was pretty impressive and even 2 Brothers on the 4th floor (Never Alone, Black & White) made a reappearance, being the most asked group since the first edition. DJ Ward, the "house-DJ" of I love the 90's, started with a lovely warm-up at 8:30PM and left the crowd jumping for joy until it was time for Astroline (Feel the Fire) to get the party started.

                                                         Can you feel the fire?

After Astroline Absolom (Baby Boomers, Secret) entered the stage bringing a few of their dance classics and a brand new themesong for I love the 90's called "Remembering the 90's". With DJ Ward at the turntables to keep the crowd entertained with the best hits of the 90's between the acts you were sure to not get bored even the slightest moment.

We shouted along with the Outhere Brothers (Boom Boom Boom, Don't Stop Wiggle Wiggle), raised a brow at the controversial E-Rotic (Max Don't Have Sex With Your Ex), bobbed our head to Haddaway's What is Love and dreamed away with 2 Brothers on the 4th Floor (Never Alone, Dreams, Come Take my Hand).

At 2:00AM it was finally time for Vanilla Ice (we even got free vanilla icecream at the entrance to celebrate!)

He rapped the whole place into oblivion with a few of his new songs and made the crowd go wild as the first notes of "Ice Ice Baby" blew through the speakers. To close his performance he brought a song of his newest album WTF (Wisdom Tenacity Focus) called Turn It Up. This little partygoer was left impressed.

                                                                Turn it up!

Regi and Jan Vervloet from Fiocco closed the party with impressive DJ-sets and were without a doubt the crowd pleasers of the evening. (Insomnia, Thunderstruck, Lift U Up and many, many more to name a few)

At 4:30AM it was time for us to go home.  We had an incredible evening and I'm already looking forward to next year when I love the 90's will celebrate its 5th year of existence. It seems that the 90's still have a special place in the hearts of many, and that makes me happy because I know... I'm Never Alone.

Sketchpage!

As some might or may not have noticed I've added another feature to this blog, namely a page gadget. This allows me to create individual pages (next to my blogposts) which can be about anything. I decided to add one for sketches since I like to doodle and I thought it might be better to collect them on a seperate page. ( just bringing a little structure into this blog ;) ) I might add more pages in the future.

The links to the pages can be found on the right menu, or you can click here to directly go to sketch page.

Anime opening/ending top 100 (part I)

Ladies and gentlemen, hereby I proudly announce my very first top 100 of something I really like and I enjoy: anime. More specifically, my favorite openings and endings.

Sometimes an anime series can have an uninteresting story or blant art, but somehow the music of the opening/ending theme keeps haunting your mind. Of course it can be the other way around too, making you want to skip it as soon as it appears on your screen... And then there's the anime that is just amazing all around with fitting openings that make the series even more complete. I want to pay a homage to all of those, as they brought me so much joy and share them with you.

Pokémon White: Descending in the region of Unova

Aaaah, Pokémon, you never fail to keep me entertained. It’s been 11 years since I’ve met you, but I still adore you so much. You’ve given me a lot to love too, 649 monsters and 15 games (from the many, many more) to be exact.

It’s almost unimaginable that Pokémon is still around after all those years. Together with the graphics a lot of the gameplay and storyline has evolved as well. The basic idea is still the same, but it seems like Pokémon is slowly growing up.

Onto the 5th generation

Pokémon Black and Pokémon White boxart.

I was a bit reluctant at first when I saw all those new Pokémon getting released one after another. They looked… so different from what I was used to. But now, after playing the game, I can say I came to love them just as much as the previous ones. I felt a bit sad though that the Legendary Pokémon mascots for Pokémon Black and White seemed to have switched around. I really wanted White because the version exclusives and premise suited me better, but then I had no chance of getting the oh so pretty White Legendary. After a lot of contemplating I still picked White. (I’ll just have to find someone crazy enough to trade legendaries, meh!)

Luckily choosing a starter Pokémon was a lot easier.
Then again… I always picked the water starter. This time the grass starter tickled my fancy, that smug face was just so hard to resist!

Who's a cute lil' smugleaf? Yes you are!

After a few resets I got myself a female Snivy. Unlike the other games I growed a habit to catch every new pokémon I encounter, providing they have the right gender. I always give every Pokémon a nickname, so the gender sort of has to match, you know?
Most of the time I have a clear view on which pokémon I want for my party, but Pokémon White just has too many awesome looking Pokémon! I already have my favorites, but they're just too much in number to narrow down to six.

I was lucky enough to catch a Victini.Victini is a legendary Pokémon which is not directly obtainable in game and is only obtainable through events or Wi-Fi. Since Nintendo still hasn't fixed the problem with WPA connections, Wi-Fi events like these are only downloadable with a WEP-connection. And let that be something I don't have. :( 
Luckily there was an event in Belgium on the second day of Pokémon Black and White's release in Europe and I managed to download a "Wondercard" which gives you access to Liberty Island, where Victini can be found.

As of this moment, I have 4 badges and the following party:
 

                                    Servine      Herdier     Munna    Victini      Zebstrika   Panpour
                                    Kirara        Charlie      Minna      Vinny        Kaina       Mizuki
 
My party might change after I've progressed some more in the game. The only reason I still have my Panpour is because I can't find a suitable replacement. (there's a lack of cool water pokémon in Pokémon White anyways.)

I'm also taking my time to explore the game this time, I literally run through every area I can find to look if there's something I might've missed. Something I also really enjoy is the Pokémon Musical. It must be because you can collect so many accessoiries for your Pokémon... In any case, I'm really enjoying it to the fullest.

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That's it for this time, all this talking has made me eager to play some more! You can expect another post as soon as I've progressed a decent amount further.

Back to work!

Rango

So, Rango came out 2 days ago in the theatres here. Having watched the trailer on TV a few times I was sure I needed to check out Rango soon. And boy, I was not dissapointed.

The trailer didn't show much of the actual story itself, and though it was funny, there were many other great moments in the movie which made me chuckle. Because of this it didn't feel like the trailer only collected the wittiest moments to catch your attention and leave you with nothing special to watch in the theatre. (like some other trailers tend to do)

                                                
                                           Have a little taste of what you can expect.

The name is Rango
The story starts when Johnny Depp's chameleon falls off a pickup truck and finds himself in the middle of nowhere in the Mojave desert. After receiving directions from a roadkill animal and having a dangerous encounter with a hungry eagle, he meets the female lizard Beans. (yes, you heard that right, apparantly her daddy had a thing for beans) Beans is on her way to the city of Dirt, hoping to talk to the major to ask for some water to save her ranch.


You better run Mojito!

Arriving at Dirt, our nameless chameleon quickly notices that the citizens are not so fond of strangers. But, with his fine acting skills and after lots of bragging he manages to convince the suspicious citizens that he is Rango, the most fearsome beast of the West. When the eagle he met before is terrorizing the city he manages to kill it with one bullet, tipping over one of the coal reservoirs onto the birds head. Living up to his selfmade name, he gets promoted to the sheriff of Dirt.
 

The bank is suprisingly empty.

As can be expected in the desert, it soon becomes obvious that the water in Dirt is very scarce. With the big tap to the water supply being broken and the reservoir in the bank running dry, many of the citizens are getting restless and it's up to Rango to fix it. While struggling between keeping his act up and finding water to keep Dirt alive, Rango discovers that there just might be more going on than meets the eye...


Beautiful graphics
Being made by Industrial Light & Magic and the same director from Pirates of the Carribean, Rango is not necessarily targeted at children. Although not explicit, there are many adult themes and the humor has an adult edge as well. The story might be a bit cliché when it nears the end, but Rango has enough good elements to keep it interesting.


One thing that can be said is that the animation is just stunning. The movements are very fluent and the details are simply amazing, from dirt in the animals' fur to every single particle in the eyes, it's all there. Not even one animal looks alike, but that is one of the main reasons they have so much character. The environment is also breathtaking. Many times I was wondering if it was animated or real.

The voice actors also did an excellent job, I thoroughly enjoyed Johnny Depp and Isla Fischer (Beans) in particular. Every voice matched his or her respective animal and gave the character much more depth.

Those eyes!

All in all, I really enjoyed Rango. Although not the best I've ever seen, Rango is a visual masterpiece and certainly worth the watch.